Grammy-winner Bogguss coming to Plymouth

Wednesday

Apr 11, 2018 at 12:30 PMApr 12, 2018 at 10:59 AM

The best thing about Suzy Bogguss' music is that, even in her country chart-topping days in the 1990s, she never limited herself to any one genre or approach. Even her most successful hits might be as much folk as country, and perhaps more rock than anything else.

That hasn't changed, which is why Bogguss is still one of the most unforgettable performers and song interpreters anywhere, and why her concert at The Spire Center in Plymouth April 19 is such an event.

Bogguss' affection for all flavors of the American songbook may have started during her days as a "wandering troubadour" after her graduation from Illinois State. Of course, she could claim to be the only country chartbuster to have once been the Aledo High Homecoming Queen while growing up in suburban Illinois. But she always had an insatiable appetite for music, and even as a youngster visiting her grandparents in Apple Valley, Calif., she'd often visit some folks who attended the same church, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

After college, Bogguss hit the coffeehouse circuit, and even self-released a folkie album. But by 1985 she'd settled in Nashville, working as a waitress. Before long she answered an audition for a new theme park, crushed it, and became the first featured performer at Dollywood. Bogguss kept plugging away at the music business, collaborating with several other songwriters, including guitarist Doug Crider, who she ended up marrying. Eventually record labels took notice, and by 1989 her good friend Wendy Waldman was producing her first major label debut, which was good enough to earn her the Academy of Country Music's Top New Female Artist Award.

But it was Bogguss' 1991 album "Aces" which really catapulted her into the limelight, with a superb collection songs from a bevy of fine writers - including the title cut, which was written by Cheryl Wheeler, who ironically headlines The Spire Center April 14. Other tunes on that album were penned by Ian Tyson, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Tom Russell and Nanci Griffith, and Kim Carnes and Wendy Waldman.

"Aces" began almost a decade of consistent excellence and consistent hits from Bogguss, amassing more than four million records sold, six top 10 singles, three gold albums, and the platinum-selling "Aces." But by 1995, Bogguss and Crider had become parents, and the singer took a three-year hiatus. By the time she was ready to return to the grind of touring, Capitol Records had dropped her. But a funny thing happened, as, freed from any label control, Bogguss realized she could do whatever she wanted, and the results have been a string of indelible albums in many different styles.

Bogguss had already turned heads with a 1994 duets album with Chet Atkins, and she continued to upend expectations as an indie artist, recording a Western swing album with Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel in 2003. Bogguss won a Grammy in 2005 for her work on "Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster." She did a jazz album with Jason Miles, "Sweet Danger" in 2007. Bogguss revisited her folk roots on 2011's "American Folk Songbook," and then in 2014 released the stunning "Lucky," which featured her acoustic arrangements of Merle Haggard songs.

Most recently, in 2016 Bogguss released "Aces Redux," which celebrated the 25th anniversary of her biggest album, and also re-imagined those songs in the stripped down formats she's favored in recent years. Last year she also toured Europe in an ad hoc triple-bill of country singers, "Chicks With Hits," with Pam Tillis and Terri Clark.

Bogguss will be appearing with her usual trio format, with multi-instrumentalist Elio Giordano, who formerly played with The Mavericks, and guitarist Craig Smith. With 19 albums to her credit and such an omnivorous musical background, a Bogguss set could potentially include almost anything.

"I don't ever do a true setlist," Bogguss, 61, said from her Nashville area home last week. "With all I've done, I try and read the audience, and see what's connecting. I try to see if I need an uptempo song next, or a little comic relief. I do have a rough idea of what I want to play, but after that I just try and go with the flow."

"The reason I did 'Aces Redux' was, I was doing quite a few of those songs in my shows anyway," Bogguss said. "For a long time I had been buying 'Aces' CDs from Capitol, which was not just expensive, but the jewel cases were hard to carry, when you're 'guerilla-touring' like we do. So, I wanted to do one that was more how I saw those songs, and how I do them now. The first record had all kinds of strings, and mariachi bands, tons and tons of layers, which was the style back then. Re-doing them in these stripped down formats deepened a lot of them for me. That song 'Go,' for instance: when I recorded that I wasn't yet a mother, and so it was sung from the standpoint of someone leaving a lover or leaving home. Now, my son has graduated college and moved to Portland, Oregon, so my perspective on the song changed. Now, instead of it being all about a kid leaving their home, I saw it from the other side, the parent seeing their child strike out on their own."

We pointed out to Bogguss that Wheeler was preceding her by four nights at the Spire, and wondered how she'd collected such a magnificent array of tunes for the original "Aces."

"How cool is that? Cheryl Wheeler playing there too," said Bogguss. "I wish I could be up there to hear her. I found those songwriters myself. I had been in Nashville quite a while by then, and part of what I was doing was singing demos for people. A lot of those people were getting record deals, and afterwards we'd try to write songs together. They got me into real poetic songwriting, and were fans of that real metaphoric style of songwriting. That was a period when my producers had a 'come to Jesus' moment, after having been critical of my folkie-ness. Right about then Mary Chapin Carpenter came along with her success, and then my producers decided it was OK if I was a bit folkie.

"I knew Cheryl Wheeler had already recorded 'Aces' the song about a year or so earlier, but I wanted to give it my best shot," said Bogguss. "The same with the Nanci Griffith song ("Outbound Plane" written with Tom Russell); she'd done a fine version, but I just felt like more people needed to hear that song. With the Kim Carnes/Wendy Waldman tune ("Still Hold On"), so many people had recorded it - Kim, Tanya Tucker, even Glen Campbell. But I saw a real movie in my mind with that song, and I think I was responsible for how much it rocked on my record. I love to sing with a band - I rocked it up with a few John Hiatt songs too, like 'Drive South' on my album after that. I had played mostly solo before I got to Nashville, so playing with a rock band was always kinda fun for me."

Does it seem like Bogguss' career has come full circle, from those "wandering troubadour" days to the present, when she's fronting a fine trio, but still performing her own choice of many styles?

"In my wandering troubadour days, I did a lot of country songs, and folk songs," said Bogguss. "I was playing ski resorts, coffeehouses, clubs, for real broad audiences. I would try to mix it up a lot, and keep people entertained. I've had some wonderful opportunities to collaborate on things, and that led to friendships with folks. It's always a learning experience - and I'm NOT done learning. I always come away refreshed when we do something new, and feel like I'm continuing to grow.

"As a fan I know people want to hear things they remember, so I'll never leave those older hit songs out of our set," Bogguss hastened to add. "And whichever song clicks with someone always amazes me - every song has had at least one person come up to me afterwards and tell me what a big impact it had on them, so you respect that. I can't do everything - I'm obviously not a jazz singer, and I'll never sound like Bonnie Raitt singing the blues, but I do it as well as I can."

Bogguss noted she has relatives in Hingham, and said she looks forward to seeing some of the McMeekins at the Plymouth show. She said she heard about the Spire Center from Kathy Mattea, who raved about the 225-seat venue. And she said another "Chicks with Hits" tour is on tap as soon as the three stars can work out their schedules.

"That's a lot of fun and a wide array of music," Bogguss said, laughing. "It's all hits. Between the three of us we've got a few, and it's all cool '90s country, and funny stories. And with all the various instruments and percussion things we use, it looks like a Fisher Price toy store up on stage."